Mississippi receives $5.3M from U.S. Forest Service

WASHINGTON (WTVA) -- The U.S. Forest Service is distributing approximately $5.3 million to 35 Mississippi counties through Secure Rural Schools funding.

Officials say the funding serves as compensation for the amount of tax-exempt federal land in a county and the reduction in revenue-producing timber harvests from national forests throughout the nation.

The 2014 payment will benefit counties that are the primary hosts of more than 1.17 million acres of national forest land.

Counties that have received the funding in the past include Chickasaw, Choctaw, Lafayette, Oktibbeha, Pontotoc, Tippah, Union, Winston and Yalobusha counties.